Railway brake



April 22, 1924. 1,490,910

P. M. BOZICH RAILWAY BRAKE Filed July 17. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Pete/ /7. 502/) April 22, 1924. 1,490,910

P. M. BOZICH RAI LWAY BRAKE Filed July 17. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 nvcnl'cz Peter" N 502/47) Patented Apr. 22, 1924.

PATENT OFFICE.

PETER M. IBO'ZICH, OF SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

RAILWAY BRAKE.

Application filed July 17, 1923. Serial No. 652,029.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER M. BOZIGH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in Spokane County, and State of lVashington, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Railway Brakes, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in railway brakes of the hand lever 1 operated type, especially as used on freight cars, whereby manual application of the brakes to the wheels may be accomplished by the brakeman from his position upon the car. The primary object of the invention is the provision of manually operated means for use in connection with the standard form of brake rigging and brakes beneath the car, whereby the brakeman may with facility and safety apply the brakes to the wheels. And the invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of parts involving the use of a hand lever, winding reel or shaft and pull cable or chain, the latter being operatively connected to the brake rigging beneath the car. By the utilization of my invention the stored hand lever may be quickly released and adjusted to position for winding the cable or chain to apply the brakes, the brakes may with facility be applied, the operating mechanism retained in set position, and then the lever may be returned to stored or inoperative position, all as will hereinafter be more specifically pointed out and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one completed example of the physical embodiment of my invention in connection with a standard type of boxcar, the parts being combined and arranged in accordance with the best mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention.

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation at one end of a box car of standard type to which my brake operating mechanism is applied, with the hand lever shown in operative position in full lines and in dotted lines indicated in inoperative or stored position.

Figure 2 is a perspective View showing the operating mechanism at the top of the car, to set forth the relation of parts.

Figure 3 is an enlarged view in elevation showing particularly the means for retaining the hand lever in inoperative or stored position.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail view at line 44 of Fig. 5.

Figure 5 is a sectional detail view at line 55 of Fig. 4 showing the manner of securing the lever in adjusted position with relation to its rotatable head.

Figure 6 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section depicting the relation'of the hand lever to the winding shaft and ratchet wheel.

In order that the general assembly and arrangement of parts may with facility be understood I have shown an end portion of a standard type of box car 1 with the usual wheels 2 and brakes 3 for application thereto. The usual brake rigging for applying the brakes is designated 4, and one of the draw rods 5 of the rigging has connected thereto a draw chain 6 to provide a flexible connection between the actuating mechanism on the top of the car and the operating rigging beneath the car. The chain 6 is guided from beneath the car body and passes upwardly over guide pulleys or wheels 7, 7, to the winding shaft 8.

The winding shaft is disposed transversely of the top of the car and supported 011 the roof 9. by means of bearing brackets 10, said shaft being located a suitable distance from the end of the car to insure safety of the brakeman when applying the brakes.

Near one end of the shaft it is provided with a ratchet wheel 11 and a spring pressed ratchet lever 12 below the wheel is designed to hold said wheel against reverse movement. The ratchet lever may be depressed by pressure from the foot on thehead 13, against the tension of the spring 14, the latter being supported between a base plate 15 and the under side of the ratchet lever, and normally holding the ratchet lever in engagement with the ratchet wheel. The shaft is thus free to be rotated in one direction to wind the chain thereon, but cannot move in reverse direction to permit unwinding of the chain until the ratchet lever is depressed.

On the shaft adjacent to the ratchet wheel is located a rotatable head 16 having a sleeve portion 17 loose on the shaft, and a socket portion 18 in which the hand lever 19 is retained. The hand lever at its free end is fashioned with a crank arm or handle 20 by means of which the lever may be turned, as through an arc of 180, in its socket-head for a purpose to be described. At its other end the lever is fashioned with a circular head or disk 21 located inside the socket head and the socket head is provided with a bearing nut 22 in which the lever may be turned.

On the plane face of the head 21 are provided integral, diametrically arranged retaining lugs 21 which fit in complementary recesses 21 in the bottom of the socket-head, and a spring 23 is interposed between the head 21 and nut 22 which normally urges the head 21 into the socket head and holds the lugs in their recesses. By pulling on the lever 19 the spring may be compressed sufficiently to permit withdrawal of the lugs from their recesses thus bringing the lever to position in order that it may be turned in its bearing nut, the head 21 in the socket of course serving to prevent wabbling of the lever in its bearings.

A collar 24 is fixed in adjusted position on the lever by means of set screw or bolt 25, and this collar is fashioned with a pawl 26 extending therefrom in position to co-act with the ratchet wheel 11 with which it engages when the lever is in operative position, as in Figure 6. In this position the lever may be swung in a vertical plane on the shaft 8 to revolve the shaft through the ratchet wheel and wind the chain on the shaft for the purpose of applying the brakes. A suflicient number of strokes may be taken by the brakeman with the hand lever to apply the brakes, and as the chain is wound on the shaft, the ratchet lever or detent 12 prevents reverse rotation of the shaft.

After the brakes are applied as above indicated, the lever 19 may be pulled sufficiently to unseat the lugs '21 from their recesses 21", thus disengaging the pawl 26 from the ratchet wheel, whereupon the lever 19 may be turned in its collar or nut 22 and socket-head 18 through an arc of 180 and then swung through a vertical plane for ap proximately 90 to the dotted position of Fig. 1. At the side of the rotatable head 16 is provided a fixed bracket plate or casting 27 fashioned with a retaining lug 28, and it will be apparent that as the lever is given its combined swinging and' rotary movement the pawl 26 is turned under the detent or lug 28 to position as indicated in Figure 3 in full lines. In this manner the lever may be turned down parallel with the roof of the car where it will be out of the way of the brakeman passing over the top of the car, but accessible for use when required. To bring the lever to operative position, it is first pulled to disengage the lugs 21" from their recesses and the pawl 26 from its retaining lug, and as it isswung upwardly to vertical position it is simultaneously turned through an arc of 180, and then released of its pull. The spring then forces the lugs 21 into their recesses and engages the pawl 26 with the ratchet wheel in order that the lever may be operated to apply the brakes. With the lever in inoperative position as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the brakes may be released by de-' pressing the ratchet lever 12.

' Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The combination with a winding shaft and ratchet wheel of a head loose on the shaft and provided with a socket, an open nut, a lever having a pawl for engagement with said wheel, and rotatably supported in said nut and socket, a spring within the socket for holding the pawl in engagement, and co-acting means on the lever and socket for normally preventing rotation of the lever.

2. The combination with a winding shaft and its ratchet wheel of a socket head having a loose sleeve on the shaft and a bearing nut in said head, a lever, a pawl on the lever for engagement with said wheel, a head on the lever within said socket head and a spring interposed between said lever head and nut, and co-acting means on said lever and socket head to prevent rotarymotion of the lever in said socket head.

3. The combination with a winding shaft and its ratchet wheel, of a socket head having a loose sleeve on the shaft, a bearing nut in said socket head, a lever, a pawl fixed on the lever for engagement with said wheel, a head on said lever encased within the socket head and lugs on said head for co-action with recesses in the socket head, and a spring interposed between said lever head and said nut.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature.

' PETER M. BOZICH. 

